Poem from Our Succah

I want to love, because You Love.

I want to give, because You Give.

I want to breathe, because You Breathe.

Oh, let Your Holy Spirit breathe through me.

How can I ever be satisfied with anything but You.

Lord, fill my cup and overflow with Love

for Your Love consumes my life.

Oh let Your Holy Spirit live through me.

I feel your arms around me.

My heart leaps with joy in Your Presence.

Take me and make me Yours.

Oh let Your Holy Spirit Love through me.

Crows and Meteors...Love Notes

I haven't been up on the roof in a while. But I was up there this morning...
I wanted to wake Eric up at 5:00 so I got up there at 4:30 and saw seven meteors.
Two were really amazing.

I guess I wasn't really sure that God would meet me or rather that my mind would meet His. He's always there waiting but sometimes my thoughts are my own and like the Pharisee in the parable, I end up 'praying with myself.'

There's this song that I love. It's not the kind of song that you'd expect this sunshiny girl to relish but I do. I thought of it yesterday when I heard an enormous flock of crows circling.

I couldn't remember all the words until I climbed the stairs to the roof and looked up at Orion.

There are crows, crows, crows everywhere..(that's the part I remembered yesterday.)

I have a friend with some crows circling.
But then when I looked up at my favorite constellation, I remembered the rest.

There are crows, crows, crows everywhere
but, darling, I don't care,
as long as I have you.

Then the meteors, the beautiful Love notes from my Darling.
I was heavy with thoughts for my friend but He took this silly song that I love and winked at me.
And such a wink!
A song in my heart that turns crows into doves and a shower of meteors from Orion.
One was a fireball bursting with light and so low that I saw it through the branches of a palm. Our own tabernacle, a succah made by God holding us tight and
meeting us whenever we turn to Him.

Lord, hold my friend tight.

Crow song

This song goes with the next post...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBVTB8t0uYY

Everything's Significant

Jan. 9
If to myself..."God sometimes interferes"--
I said, my faith at once would be struck blind.
I see Him all in all, the lifting mind,
Or nowhere in the vacant miles and years.
A love He is that watches and that hears,
Or but a mist fumed up from minds of men,
Whose fears and hope reach out beyond their kin.

From Diary of an Old Soul by George MacDonald

Addicted to the breath of Trees

John 12:24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. .....
27 "Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.

Mark 14:34 "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death," he said to them. "Stay here and keep watch." 35 Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. 36 "Abba, Father," he said, "everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will."

I've been puzzling over these two passages for a while now. Jesus says He won't ask the Father to save Him from this hour and then later He does ask. But I think there's a difference. In the verses from Mark, Jesus adds, 'if possible' and 'not what I will, but what you will.' One translation says 'if there be any other way.'
Once a yoga teacher friend and I were sitting in the park, breathing and watching our kids play some intricate imagination game. I say 'breathing' because breath was sacred to my friend.

"Breath is spirit," said my friend, "but I pray to Jesus."
"Why do you think Jesus had to die?" I asked.
"He didn't have to die, he should have lived."
"Well then God is really mean, because Jesus prayed to be spared from the cross if there were any other way. If there is any other way to an everlasting life with God, then God would have spared Him."

She and her son moved soon after that and Gabriel and I still miss them. We don't find people with our type of imagination very often. Where do you find a friend who wants to sit on a bench, breathing the breath of trees and talk about Creator while our sons make up some elaborate, medieval world?

'Overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,' said Jesus to His closest friends in the world,'watch and pray.' The cups of wine from the Passover Seder were just too much for them, they fell asleep.

Ps.88:18 You have taken my companions and loved ones from me;
the darkness is my closest friend.

I'm sure Jesus could relate to those words in that hour, in that garden, full of olive trees.

I'm grateful for this picture of Jesus, this passionate Messiah, filled with sorrow and resolve. He has been an example to me when my heart is troubled. I'm grateful for the breath of trees whether they are olive, palm or peach. And each of those trees started as a seed, dying in the earth, with darkness all around. So who knows what God has planned to grow in my heart.

Love for broken Hearts

Notes for teaching at the Retirement Home (like I could teach them anything.)

Ps.147:3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Last night, we were talking about broken hearts at Youth group.
Jamie asked, "Have you ever had a b.heart?" I think every hand went up.
Later in small group each of us shared our stories.

( Told mine which involves my fragile 13 year old heart and a boy scout.)

But then Greg shared his story. His step-mom abandoned him when he was 14. He was taken in by some friends at church but his heart was changed. He said he'd always been proud and so sure of himself. Now he felt humbled and while still thankful for his talents, he didn't see them as something to be proud of but as gifts from God.

Wow! The only thing I'd learned from my young heart-break was to guard my heart. I think I've finally unlearned that lesson.

But God gives us broken hearts for a reason and I think Greg found it...

Is 57:15 For this is what the high and lofty One says-- he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place,

get that? He is amazing, so beyond us, 'high and holy'...

15b...but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.
(sounds like the way Greg described his heart, 'contrite' or humbled and 'lowly' meek, not thinking we're 'all that!') and God, the 'high and lofty One' lives with us broken-hearted, unguarded ones. And He lives with us to 'revive' us to give us life.
How does He do that?
16 I will not accuse forever, nor will I always be angry, for then the spirit of man would grow faint before me-- the breath of man that I have created.
17 I was enraged by his sinful greed; I punished him, and hid my face in anger, yet he kept on in his willful ways.
Well, like Greg, He gives us a realisation of our sin. For Greg, it was pride and vanity. This realization is called conviction and it's different than guilt. Guilt says, "Oh I'm so bad, I screwed up, how can I hide this and fix it and feel better. Then when that better feeling comes, guilt isn't enough to keep us out of screwing up in the same way again.

18 I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will guide him and restore comfort to him, 19 creating praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel. Peace, peace, to those far and near," says the Lord. "And I will heal them."
Now I think conviction is different. It is like a gift from God. It comes with a realization that I can't hide this or fix it or change myself. I need God. Not the 'I'm so bad' feeling but the 'God's so good' realisation and we turn to Him to change us, to heal us, to guide, and restore comfort. That turning around to Him produces praise and worship and peace that passes our understanding. God heals us.

Like little children, we trust Him.

Broken hearts can lead us to put up a wall and guard ourselves. But that's not the best way... we are to be like trusting little children with open hearts...

Here's why #1

Matthew 11:25-30
25 At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. 27 "All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

God chooses to show Himself to little children..We need trusting,open child-like hearts because that's the kind of heart inwhich God reveals Himself.

#2 that's the kind of heart God has...

28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

'Gentle and humble' of heart...and He promises us rest. The 'high and holy One' is 'gentle and humble!'

But does that mean we wouldn't have ouchy hearts anymore...Oh, no. Hurting hearts sometimes come with the openness and gentleness and trusting and the humility of the Child's heart.

John 11:32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 "Where have you laid him?" he asked. "Come and see, Lord," they replied. 35 Jesus wept.

Oh yeah, my heart is broken. My heart feels the pain of separation but He's there with me, weeping and understanding and guiding and healing. He doesn't want me to be a hot house flower, safe but alone in my isolated pot. He wants me to be a wild flower with roots that get mixed up with others.

Open, humble, child-like hearts get broken. But we also get to feel God's heart hurting, healing, comforting, restoring, our hearts. And with our roots all mixed up with others, He can use us to hurt with, heal, comfort, restore, and rejoice with others.

(That's all I had time to talk about maybe I'll share the rest this week.)

Last time we were talking about hurting broken hearts and we even got to see where Jesus wept with Mary and Martha because of the death of their brother, Lazarus. Anyone know what happens next in the story?

Yup! Lazarus is raised to life again when Jesus prayed. Later we see a feast given for Jesus. The three siblings want to express their love for this healer of broken hearts

John12:2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 3 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

and here at this party for Jesus, we see Martha and Mary and Lazarus opening up their hearts to love and thank Jesus. It's so cool to see these once broken hearts restored and loving each in their own way!

Gary Chapman's Five Love Languages... This book talks about the 5 different ways people hear and say "I Love You!"

Quality Time(Lazarus, is spending time with Jesus, reclining at the table with Him. He's sharing a meal and enjoying his company)...We can show God this kind of love through prayer. He shows it back to us by His Spirit being there.

Words of Affirmation(Lazarus probably is telling everyone at the party all that Jesus has done for him. Thanking Him and praising Him) ...We can give God this kind of love through songs of praise, poetry, prayer. He gives it back through the Love Letter of Love Letters, the Bible, the Word. He also speaks to our hearts through His Spirit.

Gifts(Mary comes in with a very expensive bottle of perfume. It may have been her ,most precious posession and she gives it to Jesus.)...We can give this love back to God by tithes, offerings, and gifts of charity..cookies. He gives it to us through the free-gift of salvation and through all the blessings surrounding us. Just everything is a gift from Him!

Physical touch(Mary then anoints Jesus with the perfume and physically wipes His feet with her hair..I bet that feels good.) ...We can hug God by raising our hands in worship, dancing, and just like all the rest of these by doing these things to others. God gives me hugs often when I need them, sometimes I can almost feel these wings of Love around me like a cocoon of angel feathers. But a hug from a friend is like a touch from heaven too.

Acts of Service (Martha, Martha loves to serve! She made this wonderful meal, serves it, and probably will clean up afterwards, I'm thankful for Marthas.) How can we serve God? Seems pretty much that involves serving people in our lives. Jesus said if you give a cup of water to someone it's like giving it to Him. Oh the constant acts of service, God is doing for us! My heart is beating, my spirit is soaring with the little humming birds out of my window...constant!

Ephesians 2:4-10
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

God made each of us so unique and precious. He longs to Love us and to recieve love from us. Don't forget Him today accept His Love and give it to others in the unique way He made you.

lamb hugs

I couldn't find my glasses. I reached into my bag at the Old Folk's Home to read to my friend but they were gone. I searched my car, my other bag, my desk, room and floors. (There's someone playing trumpet loudly in the alley, how funny, I love it!) Anyways, I searched, then I remembered the last time I had them; in the Youth room at church. I got my keys and headed over.
I didn't need the keys, Jamie was there and the first thing he said was, "Your glasses are here and look there's a little stuffed lamb watching over them." Sure enough there they sat on the arm of the couch with the Youth Room's little lamb holding them tight.

I gave that lamb a hug and a kiss and I know we are being watched over continually, every moment, every heartache, every joy, every little thing and every difficult one. My heart is hugging and loving the lamb with all my might. (There goes that trumpet again...wait I think it's coming from my garage.) So perfect.

no fear

Romans 8:28 We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

1John 4:18 Perfect Love casts out all fear.

Fear motivates, there's no doubt that fear motivates but oh, I want to be motivated by Love instead. I want my choices to be made because of a heart overflowing with praise for the Author of Love. I want to trust Him so much that I can walk a painfilled path joyfully because I know He will use it for good. I want Love to reign in my life.

How can we be motivated by Love instead of fear?

Memorizing the verses above is a good place to start.

Then getting a Light-filled picture of the truth. What is the truth?

Here's a few of my favorite truths...

Our life here is really short compared to eternity.

I'm soooo not perfect and won't be unless God changes me.

I can trust God completely, totally, utterly.

Love is the most important thing.

John 1:19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

Here's the next important thing that will enable us to wear a 'no fear' t-shirt;

come into the Light and be exposed.

Let those imperfections (sins) get out into the open and let's see them for what they are and ask God to take away our fearful motives. That frees Him to do things through us. Then it's Love-motivated actions through God working in us.

1 John 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19 We love because he first loved us.

Hey, what's the worst thing that could happen? Now what's the best? Which thought comes from a fearful motive and which from a love-filled, Love trusting life?

Oh I want to choose Love. I want love to be my motive, my goal, my life.

Message for Little Lambs

Hebrews 13:18 Pray for us. We have no doubts about what we're doing or why, but it's hard going and we need your prayers. All we care about is living well before God. 19 Pray that we may be together soon. 20 May God, who puts all things together, makes all things whole, Who made a lasting mark through the sacrifice of Jesus, the sacrifice of blood that sealed the eternal covenant, Who led Jesus, our Great Shepherd, up and alive from the dead, 21 Now put you together, provide you with everything you need to please him, Make us into what gives him most pleasure, by means of the sacrifice of Jesus, the Messiah. All glory to Jesus forever and always! Oh, yes, yes, yes.

From the Message translation

My Poor Baby, God

My friend grimaced. She had just pulled the rubber band circling her wrist and let it snap.
"Why do you keep doing that?" I asked.
"Oh, I use it to remind myself to listen to you and not let my thoughts wander."

Okay, that didn't really happen but how would you feel if your friend said that to you?

I heard someone teach that it's a good idea to get on your knees when you pray because it's uncomfortable and then you will keep your mind on God.

Me and God had a little cry this morning about that.

Dirt Song or Wholly Yours

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgNN5QAiG0s

this goes with the next post:)

Perfect in Weakness and Spice girl

"What's 'sassy?'" asked Matt.
"Oh, it's like independent, a 'spit-fire'!" answered a gal who loves the Proverbs 31 woman.
"I wouldn't want my wife to 'spit' fire..." whispered my teen-friend Matt.
I'm glad I heard him. It cracked me up. I don't really like the Proverbs 31 woman.
First of all she's perfect. Trying to say she's sassy and therefore not perfect, doesn't cut it with me. I've read it, a lot...she's perfect.
I did notice today that it starts with an interesting question:'A wife of noble character, who can find?'
In other words, she doesn't exist. She an ideal, a model of excellence.
I think trying to obtain her perfection isn't a good idea.
Perfection isn't our goal, pleasing God is!
The same gal who loved the Prov. 31 lady hated this song.
We could have shouted, "jinx..you owe me a coke!" when Danny finished singing it.
Except for one word, I said I 'love' it, she said I 'hate' it.
Read it or listen to it and see if you can figure out why.
I am full of earth
You are heaven's worth
I am stained with dirt, prone to depravity
You are everything that is bright and clean
The antonym for me
You are divinity
But a certain sign of grace is this
From the broken earth flowers come up
Pushing through the dirt
You are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries
Holy, holy God
You are holy, holy, holy
I want to be holy like You are
You are everything that is bright and clean
And You're covering me with Your majesty
And the truest sign of grace was this
From wounded hands redemption fell down
Liberating man
You are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries Holy, holy God
You are holy, holy, holy
I want to be holy like You are
But the harder I try the more clearly can I feel
The depth of our fall and the weight of it all
And so this might could be the most impossible thing
Your grandness in me making me clean
Glory, hallelujah
Glory, glory, hallelujah
So here I am, all of me
Finally everything
Wholly, wholly, wholly
I am wholly, wholly
I am wholly, wholly, wholly
Yours

Did you get it? I am full of dirt but God can make flowers push through. Tears, heartache, even this morning I feel them. But I trust that God can make flowers grow through my imperfection and pain. Maybe even because of my imperfection and pain.
Mat. 5: 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Yikes that's a scary verse. ( and no Eric, she's not the spice girl, that you should say I remind you of when I ask a silly question like that...)
Thankfully that goal is so ridiculously hard that I don't even think my song-hating friend could possibly think she obtains it! That's the point that Jesus was making, 'you can't do this!'
Once a Sunday school teacher of my sons tried to teach them that, like her, they could follow this verse and never fall into sin. Last I heard of her, she "HAD" to get married. Perfection is a very bad goal. (By the way, teens don't know what 'HAD' to get married means anymore, it means she was pregnant.)

2Cor. 12: 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

Okay, yeah, that's my kind of verse! My weakness is used by God to make His power perfect.
Awesome, God is so cool.
If you don't know the background of this verse, Paul asks God to please take away something he calls his 'thorn in the flesh.' What that is; we don't know. This morning, I was thinking maybe it's like some pain that I feel, some struggle I'm enduring.
News Flash! We are imperfect!
Thank God that He can use those weaknesses for His purposes!
Phil 2:12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Did you catch the paradox there? Love those paradoxes, paradoxi?
Anyways, 'work out your salvation ...for it is God who works in you...' We are His!

Over ten years ago, I was up in my room crying, "God, I just can't please my husband (Eric, the one who called me 'Scary Spice' this morning!)"and guess what? God answered clearly with, "It's not your job to please him, it's your job to please Me and I am very pleased with you because of Jesus."
It's not my job to be the perfect wife, mother, or Spice girl.
My job is to please God and I trust Jesus for that, so 'game over.'
He is very pleased with me. And guess what again? With the pressure off of trying to 'please Eric' I did please everyone. Peace and happiness and a whole lighter spirit reigned in my life and home. Awesome!

Phil 3:12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

So weak ones, join with me and press on. Who knows what flowers might pop up!

Nakedness in relationships

Philippians 2:1-11
1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.

Doesn't that just make your toes tingle? Yes, Paul, I want to be full of this kind of love you are talking about because I do receive that amazing comfort from His Love but how???

3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
Got it; ambition, vanity and pride are the enemies. So when Sally snubs me and doesn't want to be my gal-pal any longer instead of thinking of reasons why she sucks, I think, 'What mistakes have I made that caused a snag in our friendship?'

4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
So when I find myself thinking disparaging thoughts about Sally, I could ask myself, "Why do I feel the need to run Sally down? What makes me want to pull her down in order to raise myself up?"
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!

So get a new attitude, one like Jesus'. People must have just loved to be friends with Him. Willing to make himself a servant with this amazing, loving attitude towards all. Wow! Let me have that kind of positive, affirming empathy towards the people I'm around today.

9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Okay, I really don't want that kind of result, but maybe just maybe, Sally will want to be my
gal-pal again.

(The name Sally is just a random name that I picked cause it's pretty. Ideas gotten from reading with Gabriel this morning, walking with Karen on the beach mid-morning, and reading 'The Art of Counseling' by Rollo May just a few minutes ago:)
Dr. May says that empathy can transfer either positive loving attitudes or negative competitive ones. So Paul gives us the secret of successful friendship ...think-like Jesus! Filled with honesty, sincerity and love for others, He humbled himself and thought of others' welfare as more important than His own. Whoa!

Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah

Oh Creator, God loves us so much. He is so happy to joke with us and remind us of His constant love. I woke up this morning with a dream in my head of corn, a corn field but like a movie theater marquis a correction zapped across my dream, "not c-orn...Gorn!" If you are a trekkie you'll know how funny and fun that is. Then the clock radio wakes us up with a song that's haunted me since middle school, "Killing Me Softly." Yikes, I've always thought it would really be terrible to be the author of that song and feel like that. But that's okay because when I get downstairs to make breakfast there are notes everywhere. "Wake up Gabe at 6:30..." everywhere! I can't help laughing out loud and when I go to pack the cookies, there's a note in the jar...and in the sink.... and in the microwave...and guess what happened when I opened my lap top! Oh and I forgot that I actually thought the news guy on the radio said that the price of

V-aseline had gone way up...I even said to Eric, 'that's weird why would the price of 'Vaseline' go way up?' Then I thought the guy singing 'Golden Lady' was saying that he really like her 'b-rain and sunshine'...yeah, it was 'rain and sunshine!'

Words making me laugh, making me happy and I get an email from my dear friend reminding it's Simchat Torah, Joy in the Word of God!

You know, Creator, God is just so much fun. His words can kill me softly when I realize how I fall so short. I do feel He's found the letters of my life and "read each one outloud." But He loves me; mistakes and all, brain, sunshine and rain.

Learning Stuff...walking

I love learning stuff. Especially when I learn stuff that changes me...stuff that changes the way I think, especially the way I think about myself.


When I meditate on the Word of God, not just read the bible or even study the Scripture, but when I let it work in my heart, soul, mind...I learn stuff. Then the changes happen.


Like I was walking the beach, meditating on Ps 23...
You know, there's only one 'to do' thing for me in all of Ps. 23! And I was doing it...walk.
The rest was all stuff that God does for me, his little lamb.


It's His job to make sure I don't 'want', to 'lead' me, make me rest in 'green pastures, beside
still waters', to 'comfort' me, to fill me up to overflowing and more good stuff!



1Jo 1:7 -
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
1Jo 2:6 -
Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
2Jo 1:6 -
And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
3Jo 1:3 -
It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth.

Walking in the Light. I used to think, "I wish I could be a Yeshiva student"...but now I think I'd rather be a monk. Not discussing His Word but living it; by walking and serving and loving like He does. I love learning stuff.

Lambs carried Close

I looked for constellation Orion and saw him through these beautiful long finger-like clouds lit up by the full moon. It was like God's hand was holding the heavens. But maybe the clouds were more like palm branches , like we are all in this one huge beautiful succah.

God is so amazingly holy and awesome. He so longs for us to constantly abide in Him.

Isaiah 40:1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God....
11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; He gently leads those that have young.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?

Can you picture that? This Shepherd, whose hand spans the Universe, holds us like little lambs 'close to His heart!'

Help me loving Shepherd to abide in Your Presence during this Feast...to follow You like a little lamb, to accept the comfort You continually offer to me and to share that comfort with your people.

Ask Us Anything!

Last night, three of us sat in front of about 30 teens while they 'asked us anything!' Thankfully, I found out we were going to do this only 30 minutes beforehand and even more thankfully they didn't ask any questions that I would be too horrified to answer. There were some difficult, personal questions that turned my face red but I modeled honesty and openness which is what we were trying to teach.
What were they? Hey, you weren't there...you missed your chance!
I will tell you this...the 'Jerry Springer' moment and the 'This thing has just jumped to a whole
new level' moment were both caused by me. (Quotes from Jamie.)
Afterwards in our small groups, we discussed image vs. reality. Are we putting an image out there that isn't real inside?
Col. 4:6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

I just finished studying a counseling book and that got me started studying personality types and ways to relate to different kinds of people. I love it. But does it mean I am putting out a different image than is actually my reality? Well, yeah! So What! The verse from Colosians above seems to say that's a smart, helpful thing to do. Heck, I like it when I'm treated in a way that I can relate to; so why shouldn't I do that for others?

I think the image of perfection is the one that needs to be done away with. Our little panel definitely showed our imperfections. 'The truth will set you free' and the truth is that like Paul, I can see myself as a candidate for the 'chief of sinners.' But I have been set 'free from the power of sin and death' through Jesus, my Messiah. There is such freedom in knowing the truth and relying on God's grace.
Blessings and Truth in this Joyful season, I wish you were sitting in our succah with us tonight...

Okay, I'll tell you the Jerry Springer moment: One panel member said her favorite Bible character was the Prov. 31 woman (an ideal,perfect wife, gag!.) I whispered to the nearby girls, "I HATE Proverbs 31 woman!" Maybe I didn't whisper. My favorite was a flawed creature like Peter or David. It was great, we even had a pretend fight. :)

The Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus' Birthday?

It's time to celebrate! The holiday of booths or Sukkot has come and we get to party for a whole week in a little hut of tree branches. You know what's cool? I needed palm branches for my succah (my little shack) and guess why we couldn't park our cars on the street yesterday? Tree trimming! Oh yeah, 'I'm God's favorite!' (If you haven't read that post of mine...it's fun:) Oh and if you want to know more about this holiday check out my other blog, hebrewholidays.blogspot.com.

Gabriel and I were reading John 7 this morning... a whole chapter that happens during the Feast. There's a bunch in there about where Jesus came from. First his brothers kind of treat Him like crap because they think He's a big joke. Then people at the Feast in Jerusalem are wondering where He is and the Jewish leaders wonder how He could be so smart. Jesus tries to show them that love is more important than traditions and rules.

In verse 27, 41 and 42, there's confusion about where Jesus was born. It's so cool because He fulfills all these Old Testament prophecies about where Messiah would be from and they don't know it which also fulfills a prophecy. Born in Bethlehem, called out of Egypt, called a Nazarene...He fulfills them all. It's awesome.

Here's a little theory of mine. I think Jesus was probably born during the Feast of Tabernacles. The main theme of this holiday is that God is with us. He 'tabernacled' with us (John 1) and what better day for God to come as a Man.
John 7:28
Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, "You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. 29 But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me."

When Jesus' birthday is really isn't important in fact it wouldn't really be His birthday anyway because like He says in John 8:58, "Before Abraham was born, I AM!" Oh my, what He's claiming to be is obvious to those who heard Him say it, (they picked up rocks to stone Him) and it should be clear to us. He's claiming to be God. Not 'a God' like an extra God but 'I Am' the name God used to describe Himself to Moses. It's an awesome statement.

Once a heard a speaker teach that Jesus never said, "I am God."
That really disturbed me. I'm glad my son, Danny was with me or I would have stood up right then and corrected him. Later we spoke and it took awhile for me to get through to him but he did clarify his statement the next week.

Jesus didn't say the words, "I am God" for good reason. If He had it would be like claiming to be another God... like we worship more than one God. No Jesus used God's title for Himself. Those words that transcend time and matter...'I AM!'

So celebrate the feast with us, come by for some spice cake, and apples n honey, music and rejoicing! God is with us!

assurance for lambs

My friend asked me recently, "How do I know I'm saved? How do I know that I'll be raptured and go to heaven?"
I answered him, "Because it doesn't depend on you. It depends on Jesus and all that He's done."
Well, I think I can do a bit better because I dreamed last night of a teen saying over and over,"it's all your fault." When I asked what she meant by that, she answered, "It's all our fault, we did it, it's all our fault."
I answered her, "you are right, we're guilty but God takes responsibility for us." It was a cool dream..( I left out the stuffed animals and the rocking chair... I've got this little stuffed lamb that sits near a rocking chair. Ask me later:)
Anyways, I realize now that my friend kept asking about scary verses in the Bible that bugged him. So I think I should give him a couple that will give him assurance.

Romans 8:31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
(Hey friends, He gave His life for us and you think He's not gonna save you???)
33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.
(Not your works, or anything you have done!)
34 Who is he that condemns?
(Paul's gonna tell us here who for sure isn't gonna condemn us..)
Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
(He's for us!)
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Once again not because of anything we did but because of what Jesus did for us:) 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
My friend, it's our fault we were separated but it's totally because of Him that we are united with Him...nothing can separate us from the love of God in Messiah, Jesus.

Read the beginning of Romans 8 too, it's awesome and remember that
Romans 8:15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.

Love makes Real..and bunnies

This post is for me. I was reading 3 books yesterday, The Art of Counseling by Rollo May, At the Back of the North Wind, by George MacDonald, and the Bible.


The first spoke of the importance of empathy, loving sincerely and without guile. That led me to the beautiful portrait of Jesus in the gospels, and 1 Corinthians 13; 'These 3 will remain...faith, hope and love...



Then one of those moments hit me, a sudden understanding like a curtain being drawn aside.
'Faith' has to do with the past, 'hope' the future, and 'love' the oneness of the eternal present.
And all while Micah was getting his teeth cleaned,(he's got two cavities!)



Then just before I fell asleep, Eric asked me to read him some G. MacDonald (yeah!:) and here's where I opened to....



But somehow when once you have looked into anybody's eyes—deep down into them, I mean—no one else will do for you any more. Nobody ever so beautiful or so good will make up to you for that one going out of sight.
So you see, North Wind, I cannot help being frightened to think that perhaps I am only dreaming and that you are nowhere at all! Do tell me that you are my own real beautiful North Wind!"
Again she rose and shot high up into the air. Diamond lay quiet in her arms waiting for her to speak. He tried to see up into her face, for he was dreadfully afraid she did not answer him because she could not tell him she was not a dream. But her hair fell all over her face so that he could not see it. This frightened him still more.
"Do speak, North Wind!" he said at last.
"I am thinking what I can say," said North Wind slowly. "And say it so that a little boy like you can understand."
As she spoke, she was settling quietly down on a grassy hill side in the midst of a wild, furzy common. There was a rabbit warren underneath. Some of the rabbits came out of their holes in the moonlight. They looked very sober and wise, like patriarchs standing in their tent doors and looking about them before going to bed. When they saw North Wind, instead of turning around and vanishing again with a thump of their heels, they cantered slowly up to her. They snuffed all about her with their long upper lips which moved every way at once. That was their way of kissing her. Every now and then, she stroked down their long furry backs or lifted and played with their long ears.
"I think," she said to Diamond after they had been sitting silent for a long time, "that if I were only a dream, you would not have been able to love me so. You love me when you are not with me, don't you?"
"Indeed I do!" answered Diamond stroking her hand. "I see! I see! How could I be able to love you as I do if you were not there at all, you know? Besides I would not be able to dream anything half so beautiful all out of my own head. Or if I did, I could not love a fancy of my own like that, could I?"

'...and the greatest of these is love'.... love makes real and maybe love is the only, really real. Diamond gets it and the bunnies too.
'and someday these three will remain; faith, hope and love and the the greatest of these is Love. '

Rabbits are so sober looking, (that's why 'Jean-Luc*' did seem the perfect name for our rabbit...until she turned out to be a girl.) She loves apple cores but there's something she adores even more, being petted by me. Bunny loves to be loved. (We just call her 'Bunny' now.) Even a little animal like a rabbit knows what's really real.

What will remain? What is really real or 'imperishable'? Here's a word about that from Peter...

1 Peter 1:18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. 22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

Have our faith and hope in God who is Love himself and obey the truth so that sincere love from from God will enable us to love one another deeply from the heart.

Don't 'thump' your heals and run back into your hole, accept this imperishable gift, this really real Love, through whom, God brings everything back to Himself. (Col. 1:20)



* Ever heard of Jean-Luc Picard of the Star Ship Enterprise? He's a very sober and humorless bloke.

Yom Kippor...repent!

Once a friend told me when I was going through a tough time, "You need to repent." Such simple words and, you know what, really, such a simple thing to do. But it does require a change of mind and heart towards something we have done. It requires looking at something from our past as 'sin.' Sin is stepping away from Him who loves me, as making a decision to do what God would not have me do.

Jamie, our Youth Pastor, pointed out one week that Jesus' first message was a simple one too, "Repent!" Mat. 4:17, I was surprised when I saw this. This Savior of love, who even on Yom Kippor had this amazing message to bring of salvation (read my other blog next week:)... and His first message to the people was 'repent?'

I was having coffee with a friend recently and she said, "But it's hard to repent." I disagree. It's so very easy. The hard part is deciding that the sin is sin and that I no longer want to do that. Decide that and turning to Him asking forgiveness and help is so easy. Oh, and He responds so quickly and completely to a humble heart longing for Him.

If there is something in your life separating you from the Author of Love, and you can't quite see that thing as sin, ask for His help. You know what, like that funny girl said years ago, 'There's always somthing!' He's so amazingly full of Love that to join Him closer requires a willingness to see things in our lives as not pleasing to Him and a willing heart to let them go.

As we prepare for Yom Kippor, or even if you are fasting now, turn to Him with an open, contrite, humble heart. Let's be willing to hear Him call us closer to Him even if that means something in our lives needs to be repented of. (Hey if G Mac. can do it:)

He's waiting with open arms. Make it a super Happy Yom Kippor:)

Great reading for the day of atonement...Luke 15:11-32! It can be party-time.

I Know.

Here's the notes from the lesson I gave last week at Youth Group:
Know Grow Show Go!
Remember a couple of weeks ago at youth group, we were talking about that? Well one of the brilliant girls in my small group asked about how we can 'Know' anything even if; a chair is really a chair? So how can we 'Know' if God is really God. She said that her Philosophy teacher was really messing with her head. A well-studied Bible student and water polo player quickly added that we can have faith that there is God even if we can't Know. I gotta tell you as far as knowing for sure that we are sitting in chairs..'whatever!' Who knows? But We can KNOW that God is God...
There are so many countless ways that I decided to stick with one little thing; oceans.
Jer 5:22 Should you not fear me?" declares the Lord. "Should you not tremble in my presence? I made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting barrier it cannot cross. The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail; they may roar, but they cannot cross it. Jer 31:35 This is what the Lord says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar-- the Lord Almighty is his name.

My guys love the ocean; surfing, fishing, girl watching (have you noticed all the nude sun bathing going on recently down by the Del!...)
Anyways we were watching 'Water World' the other night and really that's how our planet should look! If not for being perfectly placed and designed ..
The gravity of our planet is 'just right' so that the mountains stay where they are.
If it was a bit greater the surface of our world would be smooth and guess what ....
Water world!,, water 2 kilometers deep everywhere.
Now that would be a dead world... The tides and rain send the perfect amount of good nutrients into the oceans to make them yummy for the creatures. All flat water, all yumminess goes sinking to the bottom where the salt content would be so high nothing could live...
That's another thing the tides make sure there's enough nutrients but they also make sure that lots of the salt stays on shore so the ocean don't turn into the Dead Sea.
.....and those tides, created by our perfectly sized moon and sun means the oceans circulate just enough to keep the salt and nutients churning and the temperture just right for the planet.
It's an amazing thing and we are only talking about one little aspect of the oceans! There's so much more.
If the moon were just a little bigger the tides would be much more massive..We'd have Katrina everyday and the turning of the earth would slow down longer days, way hotter days, longer nights, way colder nights. All the 'what ifs' are mind blowing.
So we can 'Know' that there's a God if we study enough science even just about the oceans..
But what about our hearts...
Mr 4:39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. Mr 4:41 They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"


Jesus said to the waves, "She-ket, be still"
She-ket is the hebrew word for Quiet... when we first got back from living in Israel, I said this to some Sun.School kids and boy! did I get in trouble...some parent passing by thought I said 'Shut up..."

Anyways, Jesus could say this and still the waters but big deal...that's nothing for God... and it really didn't do much to convince the disiciples of who he was. Later, he's trying again to tell them why he came and what was going to happen and again, they are not getting it.
John 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." 8 Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." 9 Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10 Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.
But the miracles couldn't do it!.. they needed something more!

There's a Jewish holiday coming up here tomorrow, called Rosh Hashana... It's a super cool one because I think it's probably when Jesus will return to take us up...or like the Bible says to meet us in the clouds. Anyways for this holiday, there's special bread we have made (we're making it today after church:) and we take some of it and throw it into the ocean.
We get that from this verse in Micah...
Micah 7:18 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. 19 You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.
and what we really need not a bunch of miracles, not proofs from science, not huge Bible knowledge we need our sins forgiven ...we need this yuckiness in us washed into the depths of the sea.
That's what gives us that assurance, that 'Know'ing that there is a God.
Then when he washes that sin away He gives us an amazing Gift..the Holy Spirit.
John 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever-- 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.


Once when we were singing songs for people at the Convelescent Home, there was this one lady who couldn't speak, she couldn't even eat..she had this tube thing. Anyways, we were singing to her, 'Jesus Loves me this I Know.' Micah and Danny were just little boys and they were singing it too and suddenly this lady who, seriously, can't talk,"joins us on the 'I KNOW!" It was a trip and really just impossible.She had nothing but she had that! She Knew! Tears were washing down her face, She Knew! Her sins were washed away she had the that amazing assurance from the Holy Spirit,,, Yeah, healing would be nice but what she really needed she had. She Knew. There's gonna be lots of teachers and professors telling us lots of things but what we really need is the 'I KNow' that that lady had ...Listen to this


Eph. 4:12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.


What keeps us from being tossed about having our heads 'messed with'by teachers and every new wave of teaching???The 'I know', the sins washed into the sea, then reaching out and helping others and being connected by His Holy Spirit to Him and to the body that is other believers.So if that Knowing has eluded you ... come, come to one of us..or go like David did (not my David but the way bigger than Obama, Rock Star, Hero, King and Shepard: David who wrote this psalm...
Psalms 93:1-5 1 The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed in majesty and is armed with strength. The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved. 2 Your throne was established long ago; you are from all eternity. 3 The seas have lifted up, O Lord, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves. 4 Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea-- the Lord on high is mighty. 5 Your statutes stand firm; holiness adorns your house for endless days, O Lord.
We are so lucky we've got an ocean right there.
Go spend time with Him, then like Jamie said alot this school year, find someone or someway to help and you will Know!
Here's what some believers said after they spent some time with Jesus...
Lu 24:32 They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"
Then they went as fast as they could to tell others about Jesus!

alone?

Just returned from a beautiful beach walk, so alone. Yet not alone at all. My Father met me and walked with me and blessed me greatly with his Presence.

Somehow being near those waves and blue sky fill me up, oh and the sea gulls...saw one eating a wormy thing!

Elijah felt alone and I guess, sitting in a cave would tend to make one feel alone. But God met him and assured him that 7000 had not worshiped idols. Elijah had the Presence and the assurance of others like him.

Yesterday, Micah raised his hand in class to sign up for the 'Drug Free' club. He said that every year fewer and fewer join. Only one other hand went up yesterday out of a class of over thirty students. He felt a bit alone. One girl even commented to him how stupid she thought the club was.

Well, like Elijah, my Micah wasn't alone, and I wasn't alone on the beach.

My Lord is there. He's there because the separation that sin causes has been bridged.
By One who was left alone by this world.
One who alone could bridge that gap.
Jesus, Yeshua, the Messiah..

John 16:32 "But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. 33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Jesus faced the cross alone yet the Father was with Him. God overcame the power of sin and death.

1Cor. 15:51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-- 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." 55 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

A fly stung me on the way to the beach. It reminded me that the sting of sin has been dealt with, if I am willing to repent and turn to Him. There He is, arms wide open, keeping me from ever being alone.

Tashlich and Waves

I woke up this morning to the sound of waves, crashing waves. As my surfing family will tell you that doesn't necessarily mean good surf. It could mean that the waves are 'walled' or coming in and breaking in one big curtain of water without any curl. That results in a very short,very white washy ride for the surfer. Not ideal.

But for me some big walled waves this morning are perfect. I also woke up with this verse in my mind...

Psalms 51
3 .....my sin is always before me.

Like David when he wrote this song, my transgressions sit there in my mind constantly accusing me. I guess this is the ideal attitude to enter into these days before Yom Kippor, the day of Atonement. But I don't want to wait till the day of fasting to deal with this, I need washing now.

I am so thankful for Tashlich. Tashlich means, 'you will send away.' That's exactly what I want. During Tashlich, we take bread crumbs and cast them into the sea. This is to remind us of the verse in Micah that says;
Micah 7:19
You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.

That's what I want! All this yuckiness within me cast into the depths of the sea and those big walled waves to wash them completely away.

I know the One who has the compassion and the strength to 'send away' and wash away my sin. The One who said, 'Sheket' or 'Quiet, be still' to the waves and they were completely calm. He can do the same for my heart. The One who could 'tread' upon the water as if he were taking a well-worn path. He gave everything to free me from my iniquity.

Like David, I know, 'against You, Lord and You only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. And only You can wash me only You can...
Ps. 51: 10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.'

For Your Name's sake, Amen.